Mexican Wolves don’t belong in Utah’s Dixie (OPINION)

Mexican wolf, location and date not specified | Photo courtesy of mexicanwolves.org, St. George News

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an editorial submitted by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and does not necessarily represent the views of St. George News.

When people say the wolf is at the door, they are typically using a popular idiom to indicate they have fallen on hard times. But that expression could become more than a figure of speech in southern Utah if the Obama administration has its way.

With the federal government falling short of its goal to reintroduce 100 Mexican wolves in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now proposing to greatly expand their numbers and place them outside their historic range where the consequences could be dire. And the scientists appointed to look at expanding the scope of Mexican wolf reintroduction efforts have Utah’s Dixie squarely in their political crosshairs.

As part of their proposal to “reintroduce” 750 Mexican wolves, these scientists want to have a self-sustaining population of 250 wolves in southern Utah and northern Arizona – places that fall well outside the predators’ historic range. How can you “recover” Mexican wolves in areas where they have not been?

Now I realize geography covers too much ground to be understood by many in Washington. But I expect better from the Administration and its appointed scientists, who are kowtowing to environmental extremists and ignoring multiple scientific studies that confine the northern extent of Mexican wolves’ historic range to Arizona and New Mexico.

Just as egregious, the agency wants to list Mexican wolves under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a “subspecies,” which will prevent Utah and other states from managing the predators if they wander outside of their historic range. Utah wildlife officials say this could lead to a re-listing of gray wolves in parts of Utah where they have just been delisted because the ESA requires unprotected species to be treated as endangered if they look similar to protected species such as Mexican wolves.

Furthermore, the ESA prevents a species like the Mexican wolf from ever being delisted and turned over to the states for management until it is no longer endangered in “all or a significant portion of its range.” Since 90 percent of the Mexican wolf’s historic range is in Mexico, which the Administration’s recovery plan does not address, there is virtually no prospect of that ever happening.

So what would be the consequences to southern Utah? Without any means of controlling the Mexican wolf or protecting livestock, the losses to our state’s farming and ranching industry, which accounts for $1.5 billion in sales every year, would be severe. The same is true of elk and other wildlife in southern Utah. The reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone has taken a big bite out of elk numbers there. Placing a similar number of wolves in and around Utah’s Dixie, where elk and big game animals are not nearly as numerous, is irresponsible. Once the elk are gone, the wolves will move on to livestock – just as gray wolves have and continue to do since their reintroduction in 1995 to Yellowstone and northern Idaho.

It is past time for Washington bureaucrats to turn wolf management over to the dedicated state professionals who have a proven track record of managing elk, deer and other wildlife. The federal government has no business foisting Mexican wolves and other non-native species on Utah. I am committed to continue to do all I can to ensure that they don’t.

Mexican wolves clearly do not belong in Utah. State officials say they don’t want them. Neither do ranchers, sportsmen and others in southern Utah – and they are not just whistling Dixie.

— Sen. Orrin Hatch is a member of the Senate Western Caucus

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About the Author

Opinion-Editorials are received from Orrin Hatch and are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are strictly the responsibility of Orrin Hatch and his staff submitting them; they do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee. He also serves on the Judiciary and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and Joint Committee on Taxation. Long recognized as a principled conservative, Hatch has been at the forefront of the battle in the U.S. Senate to rein in the ever-expanding federal bureaucracy and costly, burdensome regulations. Recognized recently by U.S. News & World Report magazine as one of America’s top 22 leaders, Hatch’s legislative achievements and initiatives include the balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, the Strengthening Our Commitment to Legal Immigration and America’s Security Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

35 Comments

All they need to do is look at the devastation reintroducing wolves caused in MT.I grew up in one of thareas and saw the effects first hand. Not a good idea at all.

JustsaynOctober 25, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Senator,
With all due respect, stick to what you know. Your statements as they pertain to biology only act to show your ignorance. Then again, what you know is how to manipulate people with ignorance and fear and that is what you are doing. Natural predators do not consume their prey to the point of extinction. Humans are the only species to do such. Livestock operators in the west are the source of low Elk, Mule deer, etc. populations. Livestock producers lease government (BLM) lands and overgraze the land with their livestock. The livestock consume the wildlife’s natural forage. The elk, mule deer, etc. have less forage and therefore the land cannot support their numbers via reduced reproductive health = lower birth numbers, birth weights, and surviorship of any young they might produce.
Please take a basis biology course before speaking. Then again, don’t and reveal yourself for what you are.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:25 pm

Funny the only States having problem with deer and elk numbers just happen to be the States with wolves wiping them out. Please take a basis biology course before speaking uncontrolled wolf population is a disaster to wildlife. Then again, don’t and reveal yourself for what you are grossly ignorant wolf lover.

RickOctober 26, 2011 at 3:49 pm

Why is it these tiny special interest groups, the wildlife killing hunters and the welfare ranchers get to dictate on what wildlife exists in Utah? Let the majority of people in Utah give their opinion on what wildlife should exist in their state and stop listening to the wildlife killing terrorist hunters and the welfare ranchers.

Bruce HemmingOctober 27, 2011 at 4:02 pm

The tiny fringe group is the wolf lovers. Here is the proof. They need to get 5000 signatures on this petition. Now this is secured site, no FAKE ACCOUNTS, no overseas accounts, only US. Citizens. I check it last nite they had 3041 that was it LMAO. The petition you are trying to access has expired, because it failed to meet the signature threshold.

14,000,000 HUNTERS and tiny tiny small bunch of fanatics worshipping wolves of less then 3100. LOL Ranchers pay to use the land DUH the only welfare I see is the wolf lovers suing and collecting money from the tax payers. That is amulti millions dollar scam called the EAJA. That huge welfare payments of MILLIONS.

JustsaynOctober 26, 2011 at 4:32 pm

Oh I see now, Bruce is trying to sell books about the end of the world. Classic

Bruce HemmingOctober 27, 2011 at 4:05 pm

Why you hiding behind the fake name? LOL what does that have to do with the wolf issue Nothing. I guess when you have been proven wrong on all fronts you try to change the subject right.

There has been overwhelming evidence that wolves and humans have found ways to get along, wolves are good for the ecosystem and are helping keep it health for our children and their children. The elk population is stronger than ever in the Yellowstone area of the Rockies thanks to the wolves taking the weak and wounded elk. They are helping to restore the elk population to a balances level that existed before humans settled in the area. I am not an anti hunting advocate, I support hunting as long as you are taking an animal to use as food. What I am against, as well as more and more Americans every day, is the killing of animals as “trophies” which is what you are doing to wolves. You have failed to mention that wolves bring in an estimated 7-10 million dollars a year in tourism to the states surrounding Yellowstone. You have also fail to mention that domestic dogs have been taking more livestock than wolves since their reintroduction. Should we kill all domestic dogs as well to preserve the rancher’s way of life? It is no longer acceptable to plead ignorance to push your anti wildlife agenda. Just the other day the the Wood River Wolf Project released its statistics showing that with simple preventative measures they have only has 20 sheep killed by wolves over the 4 years they have been in action. That is 5 sheep a year! It is already a tragedy that a population of 1,600 wolves spanning over 2 entire states is considered a “healthy population.” Now you are recommending that a species of wolf than has numbers in the wild of less than 100 should be turned over to the state to be managed? Please stop using your political power to wipe out wildlife and with it an ecosystem that is already in a fragile enough state as it is. I’m sure you would prefer your grandchildren to ask what it was like to have wolves living in the lower 48 but for me at least I would prefer my grandchildren to be able to experience that for themselves.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:03 pm

Josh where you come up with so many lies. Overwhelming evidence that wolves are the worst disaster to wildlife in the last 100 years. If you hate seeing wildlife, if you hate dogs, if want to see ranchers forced out of business then wolves are great. They will slaughter dogs for fun. Wipe out ranchers herds, The moose let’s check science and facts Not Josh fairy tale dream land.
The Moose population in Yellowstone National Park trend count shows a
decrease to almost zero.
(Source: 2009 Wolf-Ungulate Study Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks)
Moose haters should get more wolves in American maybe you can help wipe out all the moose in the lower 48 good job. That is the problem with the truth soon or later you all have to grow up
and face the facts.

What tragic Josh is that the FEDERAL Law clearly states 100 wolves per state. It high time the law is followed. Next time Josh read the law before you make a fool of youself.

Shelly BristowOctober 25, 2011 at 8:47 pm

Senator Hatch, the main reason your article shows me how little you know about wolves is the fact that you could ever think that a Mexican Gray and a Gray Wolf could be mistaken for one another. They truly look nothing alike. A Mexivan Gray looks closer to a coyote in size and color, than to a Gray Wolf. And a coyote is what I guess farmers see when they think a “Mexican Gray” is killing a sheep. There are about 43 Mexican Grays in the wild, and how many thousand coyotes in Arizona and New Mexico? Do the math on what is really killing that livestock.

It’s really obvious that re-election time is looming, and that you are probably worried about your job. What is the best way to get re-elected? Start a wolf bashing campaign, thats what all the has been senators who have sat on their duffs getting nothing accomplished the last few years do! I suggest learning more about wolves before you get up and give your patriotic ‘kill all the wolves and Re-elect Orrin G. Hatch” speech.

There are about 400 Mexican Grays left on the face of the earth. 43 or so live in the wild and the rest live in sanctuaries. I invite you to go to sanctuary and look at a Mexican Gray, and then to look at a Gray Wolf. Even if you are a complete wildlife novice, you will be able to see that the Mexican Gray is obviously a completely different animal. I’m sure the ESA will not relist the Gray Wolves that were just delisted because they think they look the same as a Mexican Gray. One, because they don’t look alike and two, because Congress over-rode the ESA with the budget rider and delisted the Gray Wolf back in April. If it were as easy to relist the Gray Wolf as you make it sound, then we wouldn’t have to go fight the de-listing in court.

Please just do a better job and have a better political track record so you don’t have to pull these last minute antics to get re-elected. Your desire to maintain your job’s price tag is to extinct a population of animals. Who wants their job that badly?Also, some people like retirement. You might want to give that some consideration.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:31 pm

Your right Shelly the fake Mexican Grey wolf. When it’s DNA was tested was found to have dog and coyote in it. So they are not a purebred. As one overseas scientist stated You means those mutts with radio collars on them in NM and AZ. Please Senator go see the mutts. Shelly try reading the ESA only purebreds can be listed. Wonder how this con is still going on?

SulfideOctober 27, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Shelly the Mexican gray is a SUBSPECIES of the gray wolf. I believe what you were trying to say is that the “Mexican gray is noticeably different than the Canadian gray”. The truth is what Bruce has said, there is no such thing as purebreds anymore, the last surviving Mexican grays have coyote and dog DNA in them. By the way, “your side” has always clamored on about “wolves don’t recognize invisible lines drawn in the ground” which is just a stupid way of saying they don’t recognize subspecies. In which case they are basically saying the Mexican gray and the Canadian gray are the same exact thing (since they always love to argue about how the Canadian gray brought into the lower 48 wasn’t that different from the native wolf).

“Your side” is just full of hypocrites. They will love to use that argument only when it fits THEIR agenda. “Subspecies don’t matter” but only when they want it to. The Mexican gray recovery program has failed, according to everyone else they are all CANIS LUPUS IRREGARDLESS according to your favorite person in the world Carter Niemeyer. So in that case let’s pull the plug on this failure of a program. Start worrying about animals that are actually endangered for a change.

Christina PicchiOctober 28, 2011 at 7:08 am

Amen

Bob BristerOctober 26, 2011 at 8:50 am

I wonder how Spotted Wolf Canyon got its name if Mexican gray wolves were not native to southern Utah.

GetaGripOctober 26, 2011 at 9:14 am

Another great example of people who don’t live here trying to tell us what is best for us. Obviously we ignorant people have no idea whatsoever of how to manage the environment we live in. If we only listened to them. we would be much happier. The forced placement of this species has nothing to do with ensuring the longevity of the species but everything to do with controlling the land that they would occupy.

If the wolves are introduced and listed as endangered then not only the wolves but their “habitat” would fall under control of the Federal Government. Lands that were once accessible to the public would be closed to the people that actually use the land. Remember the great Desert Tortoise land grab? When is enough enough?

If you want to know how the wolves would impact the deer and elk herds ask a hunter. We see the dire effects that they incur. We actually are out in the “wild” where they roam. We see the cow elk that have had the unborn elk calve ripped out of them and left to die.

Don’t let your Anti-Hatch feelings taint your reaction to this article. What EVERYONE needs to do is get educated on the issue and get involved. I guarantee that if we who live here do nothing this will happen.

Kristi LloydOctober 26, 2011 at 9:49 am

Senator Hatch, there are so many incorrect statements in this statement it is hard to decide where to begin, so I’ll start with your first sentence—associating the wolf with something negative. The perpetuation of this negativity further divides the pro-wolf side and the anti-wolf side on this issue. You should know better, look at “side” of the aisle and across the “other” side. Well done. Next sentence, “if the Obama administration has its way.” The administration IS getting its way!!! 81 senators supported D-MT Sen. Jon Tester’s anti-ESA, anti-wolf rider and the president approved it!!! Ken Salazar is also making sure the Obama administration is getting its way with wildlife and natural resources, which is not much different than GWB’s policies. The Mexican gray wolf reintroduction (really addition since there are fewer than 50 Mexican grays in AZ and NM) was denied due to pressure from special interest groups…sheep growers and livestock ranchers. The public, the majority, according to polls are in favor of having wolves in the ecosystem. Special interest groups with deep pockets support many politicians with anti-wildlife agendas. The worst part of this though, is the politicians who prey on the lack of understanding, the lack of education, the misinformation, lies and myths of their constituents who think the politician is acting in their bests interests, when really those people, who are very vocal and not correct do not even realize they are being taken advantage of by their elected officials. Politicians, such as yourself and Mike Simpson of ID, Jon Tester of MT, Max Baucus of MT, Dennis Rehberg of MT, Gov. Otter of ID, Gov. Mead of WY, Gov. Schweitzer of MT and to some extent Gov. Kitzhaber of OR are responsible for the perpetuation of the spreading and validation of misinformation regarding wolves, livestock and ranching. Wolves are NOT the main cause of livestock losses. MT and ID and WY have over 300,000 elk and less than 2000 wolves. Wolves have NOT killed off ANY wildlife, in fact they have helped restore much of the life in Yellowstone, which was degraded by the overpopulated elk in the park. The gray wolf’s range DID once run from Canadian Rockies into AZ and NM, which INCLUDES Utah. Perhaps before you write on another topic that you know little of, you should stick to something you are more familiar with. As you can see here, there are 4 comments pointing out your errors regarding the wolf and only one that is totally against the wolf and demonstrating the hysterical, non-factual claim that wolves are killing off the wildlife in MT. THAT is a majority.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:11 pm

Kristi is crazy wolf lover who lives 1200 miles away from the wolves out west. She hates science and show only worships wolves. Let’s deal with science and fact shall we.

So if you hate seeing lots of elk in your State get wolves. Montana, Wyoming and Idaho are prime example of the disaster to wildlife wolves truly do.

Don’t forget the wolf lovers told the hunters that big game hunting would be better because wolves only kill the sick and the old. Sure and Easter bunny is real too. Check with Jackson area of Wyoming before the wolves 425 hunting tags for moose today after 16 years of lies and cover ups. ZERO moose tags cause the wolves wipe the moose out. Documented fact. So if you hate wildlife by all means bring in the wolves.

Brad HendersonOctober 26, 2011 at 3:53 pm

and you are a deranged lunatic that lives in North Dakota, far away from wolves. Just look at this nutcase comments.

Talk about lies and extreme anti-wolf propaganda. No one wants to see a film that is so EXTREMELY BIASED that it is ludicrous. No one wants to hear about all your “documented” wolf attacks that happened centuries ago. Anyone who does not know Bruce Hemming, do some research. He loves to spread extremely biased “facts”. He is an anti wolf lunatic who is obsessed with Nazis.

“Who wants a wildland project here in American the NAZI WOLF LOVING LUNATICS.”

“the Nazi are still here in America supporting the wolves.”

“That the Nazi wanted a wildland project no differences between the NAZI’S then and you wolf loving lunatics here in America”

“Just like the NAZI that study was buried and the public not allow to see it. Kind of sounds like NAZI propaganda doesn’t it. Or should we talk about the NAZI way the anti American wolf lover so called expert that flew up 6 weeks after Kenton Carnegie was killed and said he saw a bear track in a picture. That sound like NAZI propaganda but then truth on the wolf issue is precious and hard to find I wonder why. Oh that right the NAZI propaganda hiding all the wolf attacks on people.”

” Wolves never balance nature that is propaganda ploy to convince people to accept Nazi thinking. ”

“Nope you far left wing extremist can’t handle the truth that you are in the NAZI wolf cult it is documented fact and you hate the truth.”

“NAZI THAT SUPPORT WOLVES IS A FACT LIVE IN DENIAL ALL YOU WANT YOU ARE FOLLOWING NAZI WOLF PROPAGANDA”

“So all the wolf lovers are supporting the whole Nazi thinking here in America.”

“Hitler called all hunters poachers. Wolf lovers call all hunters poachers wonder where they got that connection LMAO”

“All wolf lovers are anti American Eco Nazi’s Hitler played the same game on the German people about saving the wildlife and worshipping the wolves.”

Looks like the coward that hides behind fake names is doing his one and only trick copy and paste. Read the post about your tiny fringe group is down to less then 3100 people LOL The vast majoirty of Americans are sick of this issue and watching all the wildlife get wipe out in Yellowstone. Or did you not hear the number 1 complaint from the tourist this year in YELLOWSTONE. Where is all the wildlife,

PatrickOctober 26, 2011 at 10:11 am

Mr Hatch makes many mistakes in his opinion. But its his opinion. He is not a biologist. This isnt about what any one state wants. Ecosystems cross state lines and should therefore be managed by the federal govt (which doesnt always do the right thing). Wolves wont decimate deer and elk herds, just look at science. If you understand wildlife biology, you would be less concerned with wolves and more concerned with what people do.

Exactly, Patrick! This is his opinion, which is a misinformed one. Science was NOT included in the delisting rider, it was decided by politicians backed by special interest groups (Big Game Forever, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International and the NRA) which have NOTHING to do with biology, science, data, research. And you are correct, wolves are not the problem, narrow-minded (and perhaps power hungry???) elected officials are.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:16 pm

What science Kristi you mean the science that says let the wolves wipe out the game herds? Let’s deal with real facts and Science.
The Madison Firehole elk herd trend count has dropped from 700 to 108 in 2008.
(Source: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks)

If you hate elk wolves are great.

Brad HendersonOctober 26, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Some documented comments by lunatic Bruce hemming

Talk about lies and extreme anti-wolf propaganda. No one wants to see a film that is so EXTREMELY BIASED that it is ludicrous. No one wants to hear about all your “documented” wolf attacks that happened centuries ago. Anyone who does not know Bruce Hemming, do some research. He loves to spread extremely biased “facts”. He is an anti wolf lunatic who is obsessed with Nazis.

“Who wants a wildland project here in American the NAZI WOLF LOVING LUNATICS.”

“the Nazi are still here in America supporting the wolves.”

“That the Nazi wanted a wildland project no differences between the NAZI’S then and you wolf loving lunatics here in America”

“Just like the NAZI that study was buried and the public not allow to see it. Kind of sounds like NAZI propaganda doesn’t it. Or should we talk about the NAZI way the anti American wolf lover so called expert that flew up 6 weeks after Kenton Carnegie was killed and said he saw a bear track in a picture. That sound like NAZI propaganda but then truth on the wolf issue is precious and hard to find I wonder why. Oh that right the NAZI propaganda hiding all the wolf attacks on people.”

” Wolves never balance nature that is propaganda ploy to convince people to accept Nazi thinking. ”

“Nope you far left wing extremist can’t handle the truth that you are in the NAZI wolf cult it is documented fact and you hate the truth.”

“NAZI THAT SUPPORT WOLVES IS A FACT LIVE IN DENIAL ALL YOU WANT YOU ARE FOLLOWING NAZI WOLF PROPAGANDA”

“So all the wolf lovers are supporting the whole Nazi thinking here in America.”

“Hitler called all hunters poachers. Wolf lovers call all hunters poachers wonder where they got that connection LMAO”

“All wolf lovers are anti American Eco Nazi’s Hitler played the same game on the German people about saving the wildlife and worshipping the wolves.”

Utahans don’t want the wolves in the state. If the other commenters on here are so wolf-friendly, why aren’t they advocated for bringing them in their state?

The federal government does this time and time again. They shut down our mining and take away our jobs, they take our land and designate it a national monument because of lobbyists and special interest groups. Utahans should have the right to decide how to use our land, it’s OUR land! We live here.

If you think wolves don’t kill livestock and hurt the deer population, try living here and watching what the gray wolves and coyotes do.

The federal government needs to get out of our state and let Utah decide how Utah should best be used – that’s how the Constitution was set up.

Don’t know if I would have voted for Hatch, but I might now. He has consistently told the federal government to stay out of our state.

TreyOctober 26, 2011 at 12:47 pm

Brilliant… Senator Hatch presumes to know more about geography and the historic range of Mexican wolves than the USFWS, but then claims that the wolves have been reintroduced to “the Blue Ridge Mountains of Arizona and New Mexico”. The wolves have in fact been released into the Blue *Range* Wolf Recovery Area. The Blue Ridge Mountains are in Virginia. Is it safe to assume that the rest of the unsubstantiated “facts” in this article are just as reliable?

This is just another case of a politician ranting against something he doesn’t understand because doing so is popular with the ignorant majority of his constituents.

Bruce HemmingOctober 26, 2011 at 3:21 pm

No one in Blue Range you know the people actually living with the wolves want them after witness the disaster wolves are first hand.

Good for Senator Hatch for standing up for the rural communities in his state. I know what this program has been about and he is right on the mark. Those of you who are busily pointing out his mistakes do not know what you are talking about. This program has been a bust from the get go and its sole purpose is to destroy ranching in our Blue Range wolf recovery area and it has done a lot of that. It has harmed children caused economic damage to small communities and destroyed historic ranches and all for a handful of wolves that cannot seem to breed and raise pups in the wild. We have been part of this program since 1996 and believe me the facts speak for themselves. Do not allow this dead in the water species that belongs nowhere but the zoo to occupy your lands.
As for the person who believes ranchers lease federally administered lands, wow what a claim, obviously you do not know anything about it, there is no lease whatsoever regardless of whether it is BLM or USFS ranches must own deeded land and on the forest or BLM improvements significant investments before they can run livestock and in the west they own the waters on those allotments. What else are you wrong about? Go Senator Hatch!.

Travis chilsonOctober 26, 2011 at 2:04 pm

many of the pro wolf advocates are very misinformed a well i guess its the main stream ideals of special intrest gropps promoteing wolf intorduction to gain control of state public and even private lands in the western united states. the elk population is truely not healthy at all montana state university did a study in 2009 that proves this wolves do not eat the sick and weak they eat calves and at a faster rate then many can produce then they continue to kill healthy and mature animals and many are thrill kills.the elk herds are continuing to decrease as wolf populations grow.the thing about wolf introduction is simple it’s not about the wolves it’s about control they will use the wolf to stop hunting trapping ranching in any form they can especially grazing on public lands the wolf is there tool and its perfect its protected, and it hazes enough they lose weight which Is hundreds thousands out of the ranchers pocket they cannot make it on public lands so they will not use them not to mention killing. If we let them win who will manage our wildlife? Who will fund the management of our wildlife? The pitman and Robertson fund? Nay with no one to contribute to it will disappear. Where that wolf steps place private property stats rights etc are trumped. They don’t care about the wolf they get paid to attack all of us. There biggest argument about wolves is that it is needed to balance nature but nature is not now in balance nor has it ever been nature is dynamic meaning up and down.Hybridization with mexican wolves is also very apparent this includes incidents with domesticted dogs and coyotes.
The animal found in rural DeWitt County in July is a hybrid, a mixture of both coyote and Mexican wolf. That is the conclusion of the University of California, Davis veterinary genetics laboratory after conducting DNA tests on a sample from the animal.
Phylis Canion, near whose property the animal was found after being hit by a car, sent the sample off and paid for more testing after initial results from Texas State University identified the animal as a coyote. According to the UC-Davis report, the animal has coyote (Canis latrans) in the maternal ancestry and there was a Y chromosome match to a Mexican wolf sample, indicating a likelihood of that gene in the paternal ancestry.

it would be a serious mistake to release this wolf in utah its simply an excuse for control bye the federal goverment and special intrest groups of have in the past present and in the future have lied to gain control the wolf has failed to recover here and it has braught very little money into local economys or the state when you consider the money comeing out of ranchers and local buisnesses pockets.
nothing good comes from wolf introduction

Senator Hatch,
Cut Government Spending, cut spending to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we don’t need them in the West.
Get the Federal Government out of Utah. Don’t listen to these people in the East and the City People who do not know anything about the West and the challenges we have here. They want to and have shut down mining and forestry with a loss of jobs. They are against Farmers and Ranchers, and do not know where their food comes from, or where the construction materials come from or much of anything with real life. (City life is not real life) Let them live without homes, automobiles, bicycles and food. If the people in the cities want coyotes and wolves put them in their back yards, put them in the cities in the East and in California where people are so far from the land and those who provide the food and construction materials. Get the Federal Government out of our lives, get those bureaucracies out of Utah. I am sick of the Pseudo Environmentalists!

The statistics that these city folk quote are not real. I lost my whole flock of sheep, ewes and lambs to predators. When one loses 42 head of sheep in one year that is a big loss. Keep those predators out of here.

Bruce HemmingOctober 27, 2011 at 4:20 pm

People that never in their life seen a wild wolf or live around them to see the destruction they cause have trouble with reality. There MO is to say good they hate ranchers and all the land belongs to the wolves. In their twisted view. Sorry for your lost .

JustsaynOctober 26, 2011 at 4:19 pm

I did my home work. Masters in Conservation Biology. I wear the title of wolf biologist. I live with wolves.

Kristi LloydOctober 26, 2011 at 8:52 pm

You can definitely tell who has done their homework and who hasn’t and who spreads the MISinformation born out of the NW Rockies. Some of those posting here are the ones who politicians prey upon for votes, backed by special interest groups. One chooses personal attacks, which is his usual M.O. I’m very glad there is somebody here who lives with wolves and understands their place in the ecosystem.

Bruce HemmingOctober 27, 2011 at 4:15 pm

Sure you do Justsayn that is why you hide behind a fake Name. We have exposed so many of you frauds it’s truly hilarious. Post your real name and studies you have worked on? Instead of lies.
• The Madison Firehole elk herd trend count has dropped from 700 to 108 in
2008. (Source: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks)
I well stick with read experts not phonies pretending on the internet.

Grant OxenriderOctober 27, 2011 at 5:28 pm

Wolves will not and cannot come to Utah and we have to see to it! Our wildlife is not used to wolves and will be devastated! Are you guys that oblivious!? Look at Montana, Idaho, Wyoming! The elk and moose are not used to wolves and they got annihilated in those states! Utah and Arizona elk will have similar fates. Throwing wolves in to an unaware wildlife population would be like throwing a child in alligator infested waters.
Wolves do not only eat sick animals that is a complete lie. they eat healthy elk and moose. They eat calf elk while being born.
Wolves will decimate our wildlife!
Am I a hunter? Yes! Do I care about wildlife? Yes! I care more about wildlife than any ill informed politician, and city folk that dont ever step foot in the woods. I LOVE hunting viewing but eeven more I LOVE WILDLIFE. I do not want to see wolves devastating our elk and deer! If you want to see wild dogs go look for coyotes there are plenty to view and hear howling we do not need WOLVES!!!!

All of you Pro-Wolfers please do yourself and all of us a favor, and educate yourself a little. I am going to school for Zoology/Biology so I do have understanding of wildlife. I also spend every moment I can observing wildlife. PLease educate yourselves before making big decisions. We owe it to the wildlife. Don’t just go read Pro-Wolfer Websites because they lie and skew the truth. Go read reliable sources. Talk to ranchers, citizens, and other people effected by wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

Don’t just be pro wolf because you dis-like hunting, dont be pro wolf to try to spite hunters. Educate yourself! Talk to our local biologists ask them about the repercussions.